In Her Footsteps
by anamywithnoducks
Summary: "When she was eleven, Jenny Walters' sister died in a car crash. Now in her sixth year at Hogwarts, Jenny struggles to make a choice between being herself and being the daughter her parents lost." Rated M just in case. I'm not sure where this is going yet, so updates will be sporadically. Sorry!
1. Prologue

**A/N: Hi there! This is my first published fic, so I hope it's decent enough for you. I'm currently in my last year of school, so I won't be able to update frequently, but I'm going to try to write at least once a week. If you can handle that, read on!**

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I started Hogwarts exactly one week after my sister, Lena, died in an accident in London. It was a Saturday and Mum and I were at Diagon Alley getting last minute school supplies for my first year at Hogwarts. I had asked Lena to meet us at the Leaky Cauldron at half past twelve for lunch as she worked a few kilometres away in a muggle bank.

We waited for her for fifteen minutes before Mum called her mobile the first time. Lena was always punctual, but we'd thought she might have had a rush of customers. She didn't pick up the phone, so Mum tried the bank. They told her that Lena had left at twelve thirty on the dot, but that they'd just been told by some customers that there were an awful lot of cars on the roads, so she might have just been stuck in traffic. We waited for another fifteen minutes before Mum tried again.

This time, the phone was picked up within three rings.

"Hello?" I heard the person on the other end answer. My heart pounded in my chest. Not Lena.

"Uh, hello. My name is Mary Walters. I'm looking for my daughter, Lena. Is she there with you?"

"Mrs Walters, this is Sergeant Ryan Phipps. Are you sitting down?" the voice said soothingly. Something bad had happened to Lena, my brilliant big sister, my role model. I listened to the faint lulling tone of Sergeant Phipps' voice with dread, wanting so badly to curl up into a ball on the sofa, my mum's arm wrapped around me.

"I'm so sorry, but there's been an accident. Your daughter…" My ears filled with a fierce wind, blocking my ears off to the rest of Sergeant Phipps' sentence, but I knew what was coming. Lena was gone; dead. I felt a tightening in my chest and struggled to keep the sobs that were about to wrack through me at bay. I closed my eyes and reached for Mum's hand, trying to offer her the little comfort that I could. Giving in, I buried my head into Mum's side and wrapped my free arm around her waist, choking on the tears that were now streaming out of my eyes.

The last thing I remembered was Mum's hand gripping the edge of the table. I've never asked Mum what happened after that. It would be too painful for her to talk about. All I knew was, my beautiful, incredible, perfect sister died and it was my fault for asking her to come to lunch.

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I'm not one of those popular girls who hates everyone because she thinks they're beneath her, that it's her Merlin-given right to treat everyone else like crap. I'm one of those girls who tries to be nice to everyone, to never get angry. I'm trying to be my sister, or like her, really. It's been five years since she died and I think my doing this is helping my parents adjust to life without Lena.

I'm not trying to sound down about it, but I think she was always the favourite. She was perfect – silky blonde hair, big blue eyes, slim but with curves in all the right places. And her personality wasn't like the snobby girls who think they're Merlin's gift to the world. Lena was calm and courteous, studious and serene, thoughtful and talented. She could brighten someone's day with a quick quirk of her perfectly-sculpted lips.

Everyone deals with grief in a different way, right? Well for me, it was to follow in her footsteps. And I think, so far, I've succeeded.

I'm a prefect for Gryffindor, a chaser on the Gryffindor Quidditch team, I'm top of most of my classes (I'd be top in all of them if James Potter wasn't beating me in Defense and Astronomy), and I'm among the top ten most popular people at Hogwarts. I'm almost everything that my parents had in Lena, but not quite.

There was something about Lena that just…was. She had a way about her that had people practically falling at her feet, and everything just came to her so easily. Me, I've had to work for everything I've got, for everything I am. And sometimes it's hard. Sometimes I just want to lie in my bed and sleep until school is over, so I don't have to try so hard to be perfect.

But I look in the mirror, at the face that resembles Lena's so well, and think, "No. Lena wouldn't give up and neither can you, Jenny. When the going gets tough, you need to pick yourself up, dust yourself off and keep going."

And sometimes that_ is_ the only thing that keeps me going. Maintaining an air of perfection can be hard.

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**A/N: Now, I know it was really short and I'm super sorry about that, but it ****_is_**** a prologue so you can't expect it to be super long. Please let me know what you think!**

**Edit 27/01/2013: Added the first part of chapter one to the prologue. Will delete chapter one until I add more to it.**


	2. Git

**A/N: Hi there! I tried to whip this out as fast as I could. There are a few characters that will play a big part in this story mentioned in this chapter, and I hope it lives up to your expectations.**

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It was a Friday. Friday the 1st of September. The first day back at Hogwarts. All holidays I'd been on the cusp between dreading it because I'd have to start studying again and wishing it would come sooner so I could see my mates again. Today it was the former.

I was standing on Platform 9 ¾ with my parents waiting for the five minute warning to sound. It was the first time my parents had come to see me off since first year. They were both pretty high up in the Ministry and hadn't been able to get the day off in years. I was glad that they could make it this year.

The whistle blasted a warning and I turned to Mum and Dad.

Smiling, I kissed Mum on the cheek. "Don't miss me too much," I joked, wrapping my arms around her. "And don't get into any mischief while I'm away! I don't want to have to send you a Howler!"

Dad let out a soft chuckle and pulled me into a bear hug. I squeezed him tightly and went to move out of his embrace. Unfortunately for me, Dad had spent his first few years out of school playing Quidditch for Puddlemere and ruffled my soft waves of hair that had taken at least twenty minutes for me to do. I bared my teeth at him in annoyance.

"I'll see you at Christmas. Love you both!" I told them before turning around to push through the hordes of families to get to the scarlet engine waiting to depart.

As I stepped on the train, I turned to face the crowd, searching for the two faces I was most familiar with. Seeing their wide smiles, I grinned and waved at them, backing into the carriage as I felt the train begin to chug beneath me. There was a mad rush at the doorway as the last minute boarders pushed and shoved their way onto the train, ramming me into the corner of the corridor, all while yelling out goodbyes to parents and siblings.

Making myself as small as possible to avoid the single-minded students that crowded the corridor, I sighed in relief when the train left the station and the bodies pressing me into finally ambled off to find a compartment that their friends were in.

"Glad that they took the noise with them?" the wall asked me in a deep, calming voice. Jumping, I whipped around in surprise, relaxing when I saw that it was James Potter, Gryffindor's Golden Boy.

"Oh yeah," I teased him, "they just don't know when to shut up, the bloody children."

"Hey, that's no fair. They can't be blessed with perfection," James countered. I nodded my head in agreement and he continued, "Like me."

I stared at him open-mouthed, my lips flapping about like a fish. I looked down in shock and my hair flopped into my face. My shoulders began to tremble with suppressed laughter.

There was an awkward silence as a war raged in James' head. After a minute of mutterings, James spoke. His reaction was just what I was hoping for.

"Oh, bollocks. Please don't cry, Jenny. I'm really sorry. It was a harmless joke and I take everything back. I'm not perfect at all. _You're_ the perfect one. Oh, Merlin, please don't cry,' James panicked, my jerks increasing the further along in his spiel he got. Finally, when I couldn't hold it in any longer, I let out a whoop of laughter and fell to pieces.

I bent over against the wall and clutched my thighs, my breath becoming shorter with each peal that I let out. When I gathered my wits enough to stop chuckling and wiped my eyes with the back of my hand, I glanced up. Seeing James' stormy expression and arms stubbornly crossed, a stray bark escaped my lips. His eyes narrowed.

"Are you finished now, Jennifer?" he asked, agitation clouding his voice.

"Sure am, Jimmy," I answered, using his much hated nickname. He scowled at me and I smirked in response.

"Shall we head off to the prefect meeting then?" James suggested reasonably. Wait, reasonably? What was the boy up to now?

"I suppose we better. Danielle will be pissed if we're late and will probably make us patrol the bathrooms for the year," I replied hesitantly, suspicious of his fiddling hands, one of the usual indicators of his planning something.

"Yeah, you're probably right. That's the kind of thing she'd do," he agreed. Then, quick as his seeker reflexes would allow him, he flicked my nose and bolted.

"James Potter, you get back here!" I yelled as I ran after him.

"I don't want to get stuck on toilet duty, Jenny! You're on your own!" he shot back over his shoulder, pushing the kids in the corridor out of his way.

"You prat! I thought you and I were in this together!" I shouted after him.

Sometimes I really hated my best friend.

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Lucky for James, I ended up making it to the meeting just in time and didn't get stuck doing toilet duty. However, that's where his luck ended.

"What do you mean I can't change? I don't want to be stuck with some stupid Slytherin three nights a week!" James roared at Danielle Monet, this year's Head Girl and every year's worst nightmare.

"Potter, I am in charge this year and you will do as I tell you to or have your prefectancy taken off you," Danielle replied, creepily calm.

"That isn't even a word, Monet!"

"Don't be childish, Potter," she shot back.

"Well I don't want to be partnered with Anna bloody Farrell! Can't I just swap with Holland and be with Jenny? Is it really that much of a problem?" James tried to reason.

"Yes, it is! I spent hours of my holidays working hard to match each of you up and plan out every detail of this year's roster and I don't want it ruined by anyone!" Danielle said angrily.

Did I mention that Danielle fancies herself a matchmaker? I couldn't let James know that, of course. He's never liked David Holland. I, on the other hand, think he is exceptionally attractive and the nicest guy around. I couldn't let James know that, either.

James looked like he was going to continue to argue, but a look came over him and he seemed to think better of it and told her, "Fine, but I'm not going to like it."

I squinted my eyes at James suspiciously. He was up to something. He had his I'm-planning-something-but-you-can't-know-that-so-here's-my-adorable-face face on. He must have felt my eyes on him, because he flicked his to his left and caught my gaze.

"What?" he mouthed. I shook my head in disapproval.

"Good! Now that's sorted, does anyone else have problems?" Danielle asked nicely. Continuing before anyone could reply, she said, "Great. Now, you're all to go to a different area within the train and patrol the corridors until we arrive at Hogsmeade station. You're dismissed."

There was an agitated shuffling and grumbling as we moved out of the cramped doorway. Sucked into the flow, I was pulled along with the current until I managed to find a slight gap to squeeze out of and a void to wait for James in. As the last of the prefects passed me, I realised that I hadn't seen James.

"Where the bloody hell has he gone now?" I remarked, looking both ways down the corridor before following the group of kids that had passed me.

Hearing a slight rustling behind me, I stopped and looked to see if anyone was there. Seeing nothing, I continued my search for James. Again, I heard a rustling behind me, as if someone's pant legs were sliding past each other. After seeing nothing behind me once more but hearing a gentle clod of a shoe touching the ground, a light bulb lit up in my head. The Invisibility Cloak.

I smiled slightly in triumph and resumed my walk down the hallway. Seeing a bathroom up ahead, I planned my attack. When I reached the toilet, I simultaneously pushed open the door and grabbed behind me, pulling the figure that was following me into the toilet with me.

Locking the door behind us, I whipped the slipping Invisibility Cloak off a slightly shocked James and put my hands on my hips, cocking one eyebrow. Or I tried to, at least. I didn't really think the plan through, because there was barely enough room for us to move.

Regaining his composure, James said, "Didn't really think this one through, huh, Jennifer?"

"Unless you want to tell me what you're planning to do to Danielle, I'd shut my mouth if I were you," I said, tapping my foot expectantly.

After considering his options for a good minute, he came up with, "I don't know what you're talking about, Jennifer."

Seriously. 'I don't know what you're talking about, Jennifer.' I had known him for six years and he thought that he could fool me by denying the whole thing. I gave him a pointed look and he shrugged, so I punched him in the arm. It didn't hurt him, mind you. I was fairly weak when it came to self-defence.

"James," I said, "I know your face and I know what you're like. You would not willingly accept Anna Farrell as your patrol partner."

"Jennifer, I am hurt that you would even suggest such a thing. As a Gryffindor, I courageously accept the position of Anna Farrell's patrol partner," he said, trying to appear shocked.

"No, as a Gryffindor, you are determined to get what you want," I shot back. "Now tell me what you're really going to do to Danielle."

"You suck, Jenny," he whined. "I was just going to put a crushed up Puking Pastille in her goblet at tonight's feast. I mean, what's the big deal? She would have gotten over it sooner or later."

"James Sirius Potter, you are a git. You can't do that to her no matter what she's done. You'll get detention on the first day back. And we don't even start school until Monday!"

"Aw, I'm touched by how much you care," James teased. Just as he was going to talk again, he froze, cocking his left ear as close to the door as he could.

I rolled my eyes at him, hearing what he did. "Is that the –"

"Can't talk, Jenny. The trolley's here," he said seriously, extracting himself from the small toilet and bolting down the hall.

I sighed. "I'll probably be spending a lot of this year chasing after him if this train ride is any indication of the coming school year," I said, following him out of the toilet. Emerging, I ignored the outraged looks of the third and fourth years who were waiting for the toilet to be vacated.

"It's not what you think it is," I said, answering their silent questions before trudging down the hallway to find James.

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**A/N: So, what did you think? I'd love some feedback!**


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